Recycled plastic buckets:
Twenty-liter plastic buckets have a multitude of uses, from storing extension cords to mixing paint or plaster. Food preparation stores, which buy many ingredients by the bucket, are good sources of free or cheap buckets. If you have small children, be sure to empty a bucket after each use and store it where a child can’t get at it. It’s not unheard of for a child to crawl into a bucket, become stuck, and drown or suffocate.

Heavy load:
When you are carrying a heavy load in a bucket, the container’s thin handle can cut painfully into your hand. Make the task easier by fitting an open-ended spanner around the handle. The spanner is kinder to your hand and stabilises the Ioad.

Leaky buckets:
To find the exact location of a bucket leak, turn on a small table lamp, remove the shade, and place the bucket upside down over it. The light will shine through the hole.

Hole repairs:
To make temporary patch over a small hole in a plastic bucket, fill the hole from both sides with silicone sealant. (The sealant layers stick to each other better than to plastic.) Or drip candle wax over the hole. The wax plug will stay intact, however, only if the bucket is filled with cold water — hot water will melt the wax.

Ropes

Rope saver:
To keep a rope from fraying where it rubs against something, slip a length of rubber hose over the rope at the stressed spot. Hold the hose in place with knots tied on either side of it.

No more unravelling:
The ends of a length of rope will not unravel if you dab them with either silicone sealant, liquid (air-driing) rubber, or vinyl coating.

Untangle that mess:
Don’t struggle with a snarled string, rope or cord. Begin untangling by gently pulling outward all around the edges of the snarl. As the tangled mass becomes bigger and looser, the loops will untangle themselves, and you will be left with fewer knots to undo.

Extension ladders

Hand over hand:
To raise an extension ladder, place its feet at the base of the wall. Starting at the top, walk the ladder up, hand over hand, until it is vertical. Then pull its feet out from the wall, extend the ladder to the height you want, lock the extension, and set the feet of the ladder at a 75 degree angle — you should be able to stand with your toes against the feet of the ladder, your arms and back straight and your hands on the rungs at shoulder height. To move a ladder, lower it, hand over hand, and carry it parallel to the ground.

Ground support:
If you’ve ever tried to use a ladder on soft ground, you know that the ladder’s feet will sink as soon as you start to climb. To keep the legs from sinking, set them on a piece of 3/4″ (19 mm) plywood or particleboard that is at least 2″ (50 mm) longer and wider than the ladder. The board acts like a snowshoe, distributing the load over a greater area.

Padded ends:
The best ladders have padded ends that protect the surfaces they lean against. If your ladder lacks pads, buy rubber ones or make your own by wrapping rags around the ends and tying them with elastic cord. Still another option is to cover the ends with thick socks or heavy-duty work gloves.

Window treatment:
When a job calls for you to rest the top of your ladder in the centre of a window opening, you run the risk of damaging the sill or breaking the glass. One way to avoid problems is to attach a store bought stabiliser bar, which widens the top of the ladder. Or tie a piece of 4″ x 2″ (100 mm x 50 mm) timber to the top rung so that it spans the opening and rests on the window frame or cladding on both sides.

Tie one on:
When using a ladder as a way to get up and down from the roof, tie it to a stack or vent pipe with an elastic strap or rope. (Try not to rest the ladder on the gutter.) A gust of wind can knock over an unsecured ladder, damaging things in its path and leaving you stranded.

Customising ladders

Tools at hand:
Tired of climbing up and down a stepladder to retrieve fallen tools? Just drill a minimum of holes in the top step of the ladder to hold your most-used tools.

Basketcase:
To turn your ladder’s shelf into a handy tool and equipment holder, use an elastic strap to fasten a plastic household basket to the shelf.

Bucket holder:
Keep a paint can or small bucket within easy reach on an extension ladder by hanging it on a length of broom handle or plastic water pipe extending from one of the ladder’s hollow rungs. The pole should be about 2′ (600 mm) longer than the width of the ladder; notch it at both ends to keep the bucket in place.

Rail steady:
Keeping your balance while standing on a ladder is of utmost importance. A metal towel rad fastened to the top step of the ladder makes a convenient handrail for steadying yourself.

Shoe cleaner:
Clean shoes mean surer footing on a ladder. Staple or glue a strip of scrap carpet to the bottom rung of your ladder, and use it to wipe the soles of your shoes each time you climb the ladder.

More on treads:
To improve the traction on ladder steps, glue narrow strips of abrasive paper to the treads. Another way to slip-proof the treads is to paint them with clear varnish and then sprinkle a layer of sand onto the wet coating. When the coating dries, you’ll have a gritty surface to step on.